The results are in and Walmart's (WMT) first annual Walmart+ Weekend was a mixed bag.
Walmart is the only company with the size and resources to compete with Amazon's (AMZN) warehouse-to-door e-commerce pipeline.
But Walmart is playing catchup to Amazon, which has dominated the space for two decades.
Amazon held its first Prime Day in July 2015, seven years later Walmart held its own rebuttal in June 2022.
It's been a tumultuous time for Walmart over the past month after the company cut its profit outlook for the full year as inflationary costs and inventory issues eat into its bottom line.
Walmart now expects its earnings for fiscal 2023 to fall by about 1%. The company previously expected a 5%-6% increase.
"U.S. inflation levels, particularly in food and fuel, created more pressure on margin mix and operating costs than we expected," CEO Doug McMillon said.
Meanwhile Amazon is dealing with its own profitability issues with the company cautioning that costs related to hiring, supply chain disruptions, and warehouse management would combine to be around $4 billion in the current fiscal quarter.
This forecast comes following Amazon's surprise first quarter loss of $3.8 billion and its slowest year-over-year revenue growth in more than a decade.
Needless to say, both companies are probably watching the results of Walmart+ Weekend closely. An analysis by market research data company Numerator sheds some light on those results.
Walmart Weekend Suffers From Low Awareness
Only a small fraction of Walmart.com shoppers were even aware of the sales event that was held from June 2 through June 5.
Relying on data from observed purchase behavior from a consumer purchase panel as well as verified buyer surveys of Walmart+ Weekend shoppers, Numerator estimates that just 33% of Walmart's online shoppers were even aware of a sale.
That number pales in comparison to the 94% of Amazon shoppers who knew about Prime Day last year.
Despite that disadvantage, the average Walmart+ Weekend spend per order was $69.75. That average is above the average Walmart.com order size of $64.99 and Amazon Prime Day 2021's average order size of $54.17.
Walmart+ Weekend shoppers did average nearly three fewer orders per household (1.2) than Amazon Prime Day shoppers did last year (2.9). Weekend shoppers also made fewer average orders than Walmart+'s four-day weighted average of 1.6.
Most shoppers used the sale to shop for groceries at a time when inflation is expected to last throughout the rest of the year. Nearly 60% of the spend was on groceries, followed by 7% on health & beauty products and 65 on household products.
Home and garden and electronics spend (5% and 6% of spend, respectively) were significantly lower during the Weekend than average (11% and 9%, respectively).
Can Walmart Really Take on Prime?
Launched in September 2020, Walmart+ had 32 million subscribers one year later (as reported by Deutsche Bank).
Amazon still has quite the head start at a projected 152 million users for 2022, but considering how long Prime has been around, Walmart certainly has a formidable start, especially for how little time Walmart+ has been available.
However, Prime subscriptions continue to grow every year, so if it wants to pull ahead Walmart will have quite a bit of work to do. It made waves recently when it hired ex-Paypal chief financial officer John Rainey.
Rainey is known for his strength in digital marketing, which could greatly aid Walmart as it continues to build out this service.
